EXPERT'S EYE 9 - Second half of the Games kicks-off

Water Polo

In the 5th and last day of the men’s water polo preliminary tournament Serbia and Hungary, both in Group A, clinched the win they needed to go through in the quarter finals. In this tight group the Magyars could have been eliminated with a loss, but with the win over Brazil they finished first and made the quarters as the only undefeated team.

After a shocking first quarter when Serbia was down 2-5 to Japan, the Balkan side came back to get a survival win over the combative Asian side.

Serbia’s player Andrija Prlainovic said: “Our performances have been not so good so far. This group was very difficult and every game was tough for us. We are not the only team to have had problems with Japan's style of play. They are very fast on the counter attack. Our tournament starts from the quarter finals”.

In Group B, Spain managed a precious tie (9-9) with Montenegro and finished atop of the group. Italy was defeated by the United States (10-7).

In spite this victory the American team did not make the quarters. USA’s captain Tony Azevedo, a charismatic personality in water polo, was happy for the win in his last game as a professional player but was hoping to end his long career at a further stage of the tournament

In one more surprising outcome France outplayed Croatia (9-8). The defending Olympic champion looked tired, did not play good defense and missed many chances on offence.

Results of the last preliminary day, 15 August
Group A: Serbia v Japan 12-8 (2-5, 3-0, 4-2, 3-1), Australia v Greece 12-7 (5-3, 5-1, 0-1, 2-2), Brazil v Hungary 6-10 (0-3, 1-2, 3-3, 2-2)
Group B: Montenegro v Spain 9-9 (2-2, 3-2, 2-4, 2-1), United States v Italy 10-7 (2-4, 3-2, 3-1, 2-0), France v Croatia 9-8 (3-2, 3-3, 2-1, 1-2)

Team Standings
Group A: 1. Hungary 7, 2. Greece 6, 3. Brazil 6, 4. Serbia 5, 5. Australia 5, 6. Japan 0. Tie-breaking: Greece v Brazil 9-4.
Group B: 1. Spain 7, 2. Croatia 6, 3. Italy 6, 4. Montenegro 5, 5. USA 4, 6. France 2. Tie-breaking: Croatia v Italy 10-7.

Quarter-finals (August 16): Hungary v Montenegro, Greece v Italy, Brazil v Croatia, Spain v Serbia.

Diving

In the women's 3m final business as usual except for the bronze medal. The Chinese won both the gold and the silver medals.

World champion Shi Tingmao, in her first Olympics, claimed her second gold medal of the Rio Game with 406.05 points, in a display of perfection in all five final dives, while Zi He took silver with 387.90 points.
Italy’s Tania Cagnotto, in her fifth and last Olympic participation, ended her long and glorious career with the bronze medal, her first and only Olympic individual medal, with 372.80 points.

Coached by her father Giorgio, himself a former multiple World, European and Olympic medallist, Tania, 31, won a silver with Francesca Dallapè in the previous Sunday’s 3m synchro.

Yesterday Cagnotto clinched bronze on the last dive, ending successfully a see-saw battle with Canada’s Jennifer Abel. Abel overtook her with a fine effort in the penultimate round but Cagnotto responded with an excellent reverse 2-1/2 somersaults in the final round. Abel was fourth, as in the 3m synchro.

Cagnotto can say farewell to competitions sporting many medals at the both the World and the European Championships, the last one at the Euros last May, in London.

Synchronised Swimming

While diving is a Chinese kingdom, synchronised swimming is a Russian kingdom.

The Russians did not waste time to reassert it when they were off to a shining start in the duet preliminary round. Natalia Ishchenko and Svetlana Romashina finished first with 98.0667 points.

The recent world hierarchy in this discipline was confirmed by the second place of the Chinese pair Xuechen Huang and Wenya Sun, with 96.0667 points, and the third of the Japanese Yukiko Inui - Risako Mitsui, with 94.4000. The Spanish duet Ona Carbonell and Gemma Mengual, silver medallist in this event at London 2012, ranked fourth, while the Ukrainian pair was fifth.